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ND EPSCOR STATE Conference

October 20 in minot

2026 Annual ND EPSCOR STATE Conference

Save the date! This year's conference will be held on october 20, 2026, in minot

About the conference

ND EPSCoR invites all faculty, students, and postdoctoral fellows from North Dakota (ND) institutions of higher education to attend our 2026 ND EPSCoR Annual State Conference. This one-day, statewide conference to be held at the Clarion Hotel Convention Center in Minot on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, is intended for all ND faculty, post-doctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students, and STEM professionals. 

 

The conference's focus is to provide opportunities to share research results and promote opportunities for collaboration in STEM fields. We encourage presentations and posters on topics related to fundamental and applied research, broader impacts, broadening participation, K-20 STEM education, and workforce development. We encourage faculty who are newcomers to EPSCoR programs to engage to learn more about statewide collaboration opportunities. 

Registration

Registration for the conference is closed.

Travel arrangements

We have reserved a block of rooms at the Clarion Hotel Convention Center in Minot. You can reserve a room online or by calling 701-441-7077 and asking for a room in the EPSCoR block. Individuals are responsible for paying for travel expenses including hotel and mileage.

Pre-conference networking session

Our No-Stress Networking Session will be held on Monday, October 19, from 5:30 to 7:30 in the Coliseum Room at the Clarion. Join us to meet colleagues from across the state and enjoy some hors d'oeuvres. We'll have an open mic session where participants will be asked to answer these questions in three minutes or less:

  • What is your name?

  • What institution are you from?

  • What is your research area?

  • What made you choose this research area?

  • What kind of collaborations would enhance your research?

conference Agenda

7:30 AM

Check-in, hang posters, coffee and rolls

9:00 AM

NSF Program Director Hongmei Luo

Office of Integrative Activities

9:30 AM

Presentation: NSF RII Track-1 Award ND-ACES highlights and outcomes

Kalpana Katti, CCBSE
Giancarlo Lopez-Martinez, PROSPER 

Sheridan McNeil, TCU Pilot Pillar

11:00 AM

Panel discussion: Research core facilities in North Dakota

Emily Biggane, UTTC

Julie George, NDSU

Amanda Haage, UND

Kumi Nagamoto-Combs, UND

Moderator: Jim Doolittle

12:35 PM

Lunch 

Panel discussion: "Beyond Collaboration: Relationship Building to Create Sustainable and Mutually Beneficial Partnerships"

Austin Allard, TMC
Amber Finley, NHSC
Nigel George, MiSU
Hilde van Gijssel, VCSU

Moderator: Sheridan McNeil, ND EPSCoR and NDSU

5:05 PM

Undergraduate poster awards

Closing remarks

5:15 PM

Adjourn

Quick Links

Poster presentation guidelines

  • Your poster should be no larger than 4 feet wide by 3 feet high.

  • Give appropriate acknowledgment to funding sources.

  • Use the academic (not athletic) logo of your campus.

  • Posters must be in place by 8:30 a.m. the day of the conference.

  • Posters cannot be removed before 4:30 p.m.

  • Pushpins will be provided to secure your poster to the stand.

  • You will be assigned a numbered location at conference check-in.

  • Allotted exhibit space allows for just one presenter (first author) per poster.

  • Presenters will need to print their own poster and transport it to the conference.

Travel Arrangements

Hotels

Conference attendees and presenters are responsible for making their own travel arrangements. The following hotels accept the North Dakota state lodging rate.

parking

Parking information was emailed to registrants on October 17. Click to view a map of NDSU campus parking lots. If you did not receive the parking instructions, please email nicole.m.mattson@ndus.edu.

2024 Bio & Biomedical Computation Networking Seminar logo

UND, NDSU, & ND-ACES are sponsoring a pre-conference networking seminar on bio and biomedical computation before the ND EPSCoR Annual Conference. 

​

This evening networking seminar is to be held at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks on November 20, 2024, from 5 pm to 8 pm, and is intended for all ND faculty, post-doctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students. Appetizers will be provided. The event will include two rounds of oral presentations, a poster session, and a networking session.

2024 Annual State Conference Presentations

2024 Annual State Conference Presentations

2024 Annual State Conference Presentations
Dr. Rebecca Heise

Dr. Rebecca Heise

55:03
Dr. Andy Nonaka

Dr. Andy Nonaka

30:43
Dr. Jose Colom-Ustariz

Dr. Jose Colom-Ustariz

32:45
TCU panel: Nurturing STEM and Research at ND Tribal Colleges and Universities

TCU panel: Nurturing STEM and Research at ND Tribal Colleges and Universities

56:12

Conference opening 

8:30 AM, Coliseum Room

  • James J. Doolittle, Director, ND EPSCoR, with a greeting, discussion of conference logistics, and introduction of speakers

  • Twyla Baker, Vice Chair of ND EPSCoR State Steering Committee and President, Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, with an opening prayer song

  • Steven Shirley, President, MiSU, with welcoming remarks

  • Marshall Stewart, President, NDSU, with opening remarks

  • Kaitlyn Weidert with opening remarks on behalf of Sen. Kevin Cramer

  • Curt Biller, Chair, State Steering Committee, with opening remarks

  • Heidi Grunwald, Interim Vice President for Research and Creative Activity, NDSU, with opening remarks

  • Mandy Guinn, Director, ND EPSCoR, with opening remarks

NSF Program Director Hongmei Luo

9:00 AM, Coliseum Room

Hongmei Luo will present funding opportunities for EPSCoR E-CORE, E-RISE, FEC, and ERF programs; she will talk about other funding opportunities in the Office of Integrative Activities, including Science and Technology Centers (STC) and Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) programs.

Presentation: NSF RII Track-1 Award ND-ACES highlights and outcomes

9:30 AM, Coliseum Room

  • Kalpana Katti, Center for Cellular Biointerfaces in Science and Engineering (CCBSE)

  • Giancarlo Lopez-Martinez, PROmoting Sustainable Partnerships in Education and Research (PROSPER)

  • Sheridan McNeil, TCU Pilot Pillar

 

ND’s NSF EPSCoR RII Track-1 award, New Discoveries in the Advanced Interface of Computation, Engineering, and Science (ND-ACES), OIA-1946202, completed its period of performance on June 30, 2026. Members of ND-ACES leadership team will present an overview of the outputs, outcomes, and jurisdictional impacts form this six-year cooperative project.

Panel discussion: Research core facilities in North Dakota

11:00 AM, Coliseum Room

  • Emily Biggane, United Tribes Technical College

  • Julie George, NDSU

  • Amanda Haage, UND

  • Kumi Nagamoto-Combs, UND

 

Representatives from six research core facilities in North Dakota will present information on the services they provide and how to best engage with their facility to obtain the data your research project needs. Moderated by Jim Doolittle.

Presentation: "Fail It Before You Build It: A Team Premortem Workshop for Cross-Institutional Collaboration"

11:45 AM, Coliseum Room

  • Irfanul Alam, SPARK-ND

​​

Cross-institutional research teams often discover their communication gaps, unclear roles, and unspoken disagreements only after a collaboration has already stalled. This interactive session introduces the premortem: a structured technique for surfacing the risks and disagreements that quietly derail collaborations before they happen rather than after. Rather than a lecture, this is a hands-on working session. Working in small groups, attendees will practice a premortem on a realistic cross-institutional research scenario — imagining the collaboration has already failed and working backward to identify why. An anonymous, structured format ensures early-career researchers can speak as candidly as senior faculty. Each group will leave with a concrete list of anticipated risks and mitigation strategies, along with a reusable one-page template for running a premortem with their own research teams. Designed for graduate students, undergraduate researchers, and faculty alike, this session offers a practical, immediately applicable tool for building healthier, more resilient research collaborations.

Lunch and panel discussion: "Beyond Collaboration: Relationship Building to Create Sustainable and Mutually Beneficial Partnerships"

12:35 PM, Coliseum Room

  • Austin Allard, Turtle Mountain College

  • Amber Finley, Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College

  • Hilde van Gijssel, Valley City State University

  • Nigel George, Minot State University

​

This panel discussion brings together perspectives from Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) and Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) on the values that guide successful collaborations, share lessons learned, and examine common opportunities and challenges. The conversation will also highlight practical strategies and best practices for educational institutions seeking to collaborate with TCUs or PUIs. Moderated by Sheridan McNeil.

concurrent presentations session A

1:50 PM

Group 1 - Exhibition Room

Moderated by Alena Kubatova

 

Group 2 - Rhodes Room

Moderated by Hilde van Gijssel

​

Group 3 - Mediterranean Room

Moderated by Emily Biggane

concurrent presentations session B

3:50 PM

Group 1 - Exibition Room

Moderated by Becky Simmons

​

Group 2 - Rhodes Room

Moderated by Zahoor Hussain

 

Group 3 - Mediterranean Room

Moderated by Brent Voels

special thanks to our poster competition judges

  • Alena Kubatova, UND

  • Amber Finley, NHSC

  • Becky Simmons, UND

  • Brent Voels, CCCC

  • Emily Biggane, UTTC

  • Hamza Raheel, BSC

  • Hilde van Gijssel, VCSU

  • Kristyn Voegele, UND

  • Marco Davinic, BSC

  • Zahoor Hussain, MiSU

ND EPSCoR logo

Physical/shipping address
ND EPSCoR
1805 NDSU Research Park Dr N
Fargo, ND 58102

Phone: (701) 231-8400

Email: ndepscor@ndus.edu

NSF EPSCoR logo

Mailing/billing address
ND EPSCoR
NDSU Dept. 4450
PO Box 6050
Fargo, ND 58108-6050

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